


Strange Egg

by NixKat



Category: Ben 10 Series, Digimon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 20:57:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2442899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NixKat/pseuds/NixKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A virus has infected the Digital World and is driving Digimon mad. To combat the threat, the Digimon Sovereigns have chosen 5... well 7 warriors from the Physical World and gifted them with a digivice and an egg.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hatching

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is born from an RP with http://kariachi.tumblr.com/. Kariachi is the coauthor and responsible for the Ben 10 side of things. The story started with this:
> 
>  
> 
> Kevin’s working on his car one day and something strange happens. A large patterned egg materializes from his badge which transforms into an unfamiliar piece of tech. What happens next?  
> "Ya know, I wish I could say this is the strangest thing I’ve seen. But this isn’t even the strangest this week.”

The strange egg suddenly rocked a little. Then a little more. Sounds started coming from it as if the creature inside were cursing the shell keeping it from entering the outside world.

Slowly small cracks begin to form. The voice inside cried out in triumph as the cracks grew larger. With one final jolt, the small being burst forth from the egg.

Panting and exhausted the red slime ball looked around for its partner. Upon spotting him, its limp bat-like wings twitched in excitement. It opened its mouth to greet him showing many sharp teeth before passing out.

\-------

After a good long nap, the little creature woke up. It yawned, exposing sharp teeth and a wide gape. It then stretched out the sleepiness from its wings.

With the business of waking up accomplished the being looked around for its partner. It saw a great many things in the room but not what it was looking for. Distressed it hopped and rolled about. This caused the hatchling to fall from the ledge it woke from.

Clumsily flapping it managed to slow its fall. It landed with loud ‘plop’.

"Di! Di!" It cried. 

\------

Kevin had left the hatchling on a table in the breakroom while he fed Zed and questioned whether he should call Gwen or not. On the one hand, she was his girlfriend and he was pretty sure this was the sort of thing she meant when she said they should tell each other about stuff. On the other, she would probably call Ben and Rook given the circumstances, but then it would be a Thing, and Things normally meant pain for Kevin.

Decisions decisions.

His thoughts were interrupted and the aliens’ attention drawn by a ‘plop’ and loud, sharp cries. Eyes going to the ceiling in a silent prayer for luck, good fortune, health, something, Kevin sprinted for the breakroom, skidding through the door. When he saw the hatchling on the floor, his shoulders slumped.

"Hey, kid," he carefully lifted it off the ground, again holding it to his chest, "you’re not supposed to be on the floor, it’s hard and cold and sh-, cr-, and stuff." Was he allowed to swear in front of it? Was it sentient? Oh good Lord he was going to fuck up a lost sentient hatchling wasn’t he?

\---------

The red being’s eyes opened wide and its wings twitched when it was picked up by its missing partner and was held against him. It was warm and happy and began making sounds at him. It was not quite developed enough to properly communicate or really understand what the other was saying.

"Duh. Doo da doo! Doo doo da de doo doo!" Suddenly it began blowing harmless bubbles at its partner while its ears twitched in happiness. The red blob’s mood crashed when its stomach rumbled. Unsure how to communicate its need to be fed the hatchling began to cry. 

"Jaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

For a moment, Kevin was unsure how to proceed. He wasn’t used to infant gibberish and having bubbles blown at him, and he  _definitely_ wasn’t used to crying. He cringed against the sound, and Zed’s pained whine of a response, and tried to remember what he knew about babies.

It wasn’t much.

Okay, sleep, attention, food. His cousins had kids and he was pretty sure that was what they’d cried over, right? They were hungry, or tired, or wanted to be cuddled. This guy had just woken up, and was in the middle of being cuddled, ergo, he was hungry! Alright! Food it was then!

Carefully placing the newborn back on the table, and walking backwards so he’d know if it tried to fall off again, he made for the fridge. The thing already had teeth, so it must be good for solids, he decided as he gathered up several lunches. What, like his coworkers were going to argue with “hatchling feeding emergency”?

Unsure what exactly the tiny thing was supposed to eat, he just began emptying containers onto the table in hopes that it would be able to figure it out for itself.

Smelling something good and food-ish the little blob stopped crying. It sniffed at the food stuff its partner had placed before it. Dark eyes darted from the meal to its partner a few times before it dove in.

Without limbs, it fed messily, flapping its wings and sometimes rolling over onto its sides.

After every scrap was gone and every crumb licked up, the hatchling let out a small burp and closed its eyes. It felt content and bloated from the meal.

Something felt odd. The blob’s eyes shot open and it shuddered in anticipation. The device the partner’s badge began beeping. Nearby electronics began acting up and the lights flickered. An unstable red egg-shaped cocoon surrounded it and a transformation started.

Within seconds the cocoon disappeared and the electronics functioned normally again. The transformed being stood up on its new leg stubs and stretched to get a feel for its bigger body. It’s now bright yellow eyes gazed up at its partner and its black tipped tail began waving behind it.

"Thanks, thanks, thanks for the food!" It warbled.

\--------

Black eyes went wide as Kevin watched the creature eat. Good Lord, it was worse than  _Ben_! An absolutely terrifying thought. He almost didn’t blink for the whole, short period it spent literally licking the table clean, although he did manage a small smile when it gave a contented burp.

His pride in his apparent success at stage one of “infant-whatever” care was short lived though. His badge and the other electronics in the room began to buzz and hiss and spark as the lights flickered. He bit his tongue and shut his eyes against the surge of that same unfamiliar energy he could taste coming.

He hated that shit.

Muscles tense, he stood there until the buzzes and hisses went silent and the surge faded away. Slowly he opened his eyes to see that the hatchling had grown.

As in, legs and a tail.

That was fucking quick.

"Thanks, thanks, thanks for the food!" It called up at him as he stared. And stared. And stared.

Slowly, clumsily, he made his way to and lowered himself onto the couch, ignoring the springs that immediately tried to get his attention.

"This," he finally said, staring into the middle distance, "has to be a nightmare."

He knew his life, it couldn’t end  _well_.

The young creature’s wing-like ears drooped when it saw its partner’s reaction. It could  _feel_  that its partner was unhappy. Tears welled up in its eyes. Did it do something wrong? Did his partner not want him anymore because he grew without permission?

The little red dragon walked towards its partner. It leapt off of the table on to the floor. It stopped its advance about a tail length away from his feet just in case its partner really didn’t want anything to do with it. That thought caused the tears in its eyes to begin falling.

"A-are you okay?" It asked sniffling.

Kevin looked down on hearing the small voice again and cringed.

"Aw fuck, fuck, no, don’t cry, please." Forget not swearing, he had no idea what was going on, he needed the comfort of being able to fucking swear. He lifted the creature into his lap as Zed came through the door.

She looked at the creature. She looked at her master. The creature. And Back to her master. Kevin just gestured distressedly.

"I don’t know either girl. It just, I don’t know."

Its partner still sounded upset but the little tried its best to stop crying. It sniffled and buried its face into his warm stomach. It sat like that for a few moments until its eyes were dry.

Knowing that it was no longer going to cry it backed up and looked up at him.

"I’m sorry I made you feel bad." The red dragon said softly. "If I try hard enough I think I can get small again if that’s what you want."

He cringed again. This was karma, wasn’t it? He’d been a complete monster, multiple times, he’d turned on people, abandoned people, stolen, lied, cheated, assaulted, and his punishment was a depressed hatchling. With a sigh, he ran his fingers down its back, Zed coming forward to give it another good sniffing.

"No, no it’s fine, just," he sighed again, "you can talk now, right? _Warn_  me next time you do that whole growing thing.”

The hatchling nodded obediently, which for it was really just bobbing its body up and down. It felt better knowing that its partner was ok and still liked him.

"Will do boss!" It replied. Feeling something sniffing at it the little dragon turned around as quickly as it could.

It growled at the strange scaly creature. Was it an enemy? At the prospect of a fight its pupils narrowed into thin slits and it bared its fangs. The red being’s body shivered in excitement and its ears stood straight up.

Zed pulled her head back, looking at the tiny thing in a ‘who do you think  _you_  are’ manner. Taking a paw, she bopped it onto its side. Kevin snorfled.

"That’s not fair!" It yelped as it squirmed and wiggled as it tried to get back onto its nubby legs. The little dragon glared at its partner as soon as it managed to right itself.

"That wasn’t fucking funny, boss." It grumbled. "That thing could have attacked you!"

Zed looked thoroughly amused, and jumped up onto the couch to lay next to her master. Said master, meanwhile, plucked the red being off the floor and replaced him on the table with a smirk.

"Nah. Been there, done that. Apparently once you drag her three miles attached to your ankle by her teeth, she decides it’s not worth bothering."

Still a bit miffed the little dragon let out a huff of smoke. It was a little impressed by what its partner said. The blueish thing looked like a small Champion level.

"Sounds like you’re pretty tough boss." It commented. "So what’s your name partner?"

"Kevin." He raised a brow at the smoke puff, and he wasn’t sure what to think about being called ‘boss’, "What about you? You got a name, or is that something I gotta look into?"

Zed’s tail twitched, but as far as she was concerned she’d made sure the thing wasn’t a threat to her master, so she let matters be.

The hatchling did the best imitation of a shrug that it could do without shoulders. “Not really boss. To my knowledge most Digimon don’t call each other by a particular name. We just call each other by what we are. I hatched as a Jyarimon and now I’m a Gigimon.”

Its yellow eyes glanced over at the blue creature laying all up in its partner a little jealously. “I’ve never heard of anything lookin’ like that before, though.”

"She’s an Anubian Baskurr, her name is Zed." Kevin contemplated the new information. He’d never heard of those species before, and didn’t know of anything that changed its species as it grew, but it was a big universe, and he hadn’t seen all of it…

"Anyway, I’m not calling you by your species name. What the fuck would happen if we ran into more of you?" He stared up at the ceiling contemplatively, tapping his foot on the table, "How ‘bout ‘Ilex’?"

"Ilex." The Gigimon thought out loud."Ilex…hmmm…"

The little dragon made a fierce face and roared with its mouth aflame, “IIIIIIIIIIIIIlleeeeexxx! I am the warrior Ilex! All challengers tremble before the mighty Ilex!” 

The Digimon blinked and then nodded. “I like it. My name is Ilex.”

Kevin bit his lip for a moment before bursting into sidesplitting laughter. It had just been too damn, whatever the opposite of intimidating was, that had been it!

"Okay Ilex, nice to have ya’."

Merrowww………

Across the fabric of reality, a group of bat-like creatures poked around at a thin spot. They could feel that something had crossed over into the physical world earlier. After a few tries five of them squeezed through.

In the physical world computers in a computer lab malfunctioned and the lights flickered. A thick mist filled the room and the four winged bats perched to allow themselves to solidify. Upon seeing them a few college students ran out of the room.

Merrowww……..

The little dragon blew another irritated huff of smoke at its partner. It knew it was scary looking and fierce, or well that it would be.

"Same here, boss." It replied. The small dragon’s wing-like ears suddenly bolted straight up. Its pupils narrowed and it looked around wildly, growling all the way. 

An alarm went off on the digivice and a phone began ringing.

The growling definitely got Zed’s attention, and she quickly tensed up as well, alert for whatever Ilex had noticed.

Kevin simply glanced, confused, between his new friend and what  _had_ been his badge; when had  _that_  happened? What the fuck?

Eyes narrowing slightly, he picked up his cell.

"Let me guess, we’ve got trouble?"

Merrowww………

"If giant bat things spitting medical syringes and generally wreaking things in the library means trouble then yes." Gwen replied as she made shield to protect some members of her study group. She didn’t know what was in the needles but she was certain that she didn’t want to find out.

She jumped to the side to dodge an attack by a second group _._ “I think I need backup, more of them just came from the computer lab.”

Merrowww………

Ilex jumped down from the table and headed for the closest door. It stopped and looked back impatiently at its partner. “Are you comin’ or what? I feel lots of other Digimon nearby.”

Kevin glanced down at the little being.

"Hang on, I’ll be right there." He shoved his phone into his pocket as he hauled himself up and made for the door. "You’re staying here, kid. Zed, guard."

"What? No!" Ilex nearly yelled. He moved directly into his partner’s path. "You’re my partner. It is my duty to fight by your side, especially against other Digimon!"

Its yellow eyes burned with fierce determination indicating that it wouldn’t take no for an answer. “’Sides, if you left without me I’d just sneak out and find a way there anyway!”

Somehow the five-inch being managed not to intimidate his six-foot partner.

"That’s nice and all, but your three hours old and a total squirt. I’m not having you get hurt. Stay here with Zed and I’ll be back soon." 

Panicking at the thought of its partner going alone to face a group of Digimon, the Gigimon sat there looking devastated. It was too small and weak for its partner to want to go into battle with him. This was unacceptable and time was running out.

Yellow eyes squeezed shut as Ilex concentrated. It needed to be stronger. _Stronger!_ It used sheer will power and recalled the sensation it felt when it had digivolved earlier. 

"Would you take me if I were bigger? Stronger?" It felt weird… good. The lights began to flicker and it pulled data from nearby electronics towards it. The digivice began beeping. "Then I’ll get stronger! Bigger! Now!"

A cocoon formed around Ilex. It hurt as the red skin was stripped from its body. The cocoon expanded as the Gigimon’s own frame did. Its limbs grew long and powerful with long white claws at the ends of his arms and legs. Its snout lengthened and its head was properly separated from its now therapod like body by a powerful neck. Its skin returned, still red and white, and then the cocoon dissipated.

It breathed heavily and was somewhat woosy from the transformation. Ilex stood straight up any way and could look its partner directly eye, his pupils were still slitted. 

"Can I come with you now, boss?"

\------

Kevin clenched his eyes shut again, hissing against the power surge.

"A little more warning than that!" He was gonna relapse if this was gonna be  thing. "What the fuck!"

"Okay, sorry." Ilex panted slightly. It moved into a therapod-ish stance that made it look significantly shorter. It briefly pressed its muzzle into his stomach then looked up. “‘Sides I don’t think I’ll be able to do that again for a while."

The Guilmon backed up a few paces and pointed in the direction it sensed the other Digimon from. “So, are we still goin’, boss?”

Rubbing his eyes with a broken sigh, Kevin pointed at his Dodge.

"Just get in the fucking car."

Ilex nodded and followed its partner to the green vehicle. Gently it worked the latch to open the door and climbed. The dinosaur like creature squirmed around to get comfortable in the seat. It closed the door right behind it and gave Kevin a “thumbs” up.

Kevin floored it out of the garage, squealing around corners as he went. The cops could only get you for speeding they caught you.


	2. First Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin and his new partner go to aid Gwen. Another Chosen receives their partner.

The ride was short and rather fun. As soon as they arrived, Ilex lept out of the vehicle. It sniffed the air and as soon as it caught the scent, the red dino raced towards it confident that its partner would catch up.

Fleeing humans moved out of the Guilmon’s way. Inside the building, the Digimon’s wing-like ears picked up the sounds of fighting. It trotted closer to see an orange haired human fighting about a dozen Demidevimon with what looked like pink energy shields.

Ilex took a deep breath, “Pyro Sphere!” It spat fireballs at the blue demon bats that circled behind the girl. It leaped over a fallen bookcase to continue its attack. “Rock Crusher!”  Powerful, sharp claws crashed down on three of the downed bats. They burst into a cloud data, that Ilex absorbed, and their digicores that became eggs.

The small dinosaur roared at the remaining enemy Digimon.

……….

Absorbing stone floors as he went, Kevin sprinted for the library, automatically knocking one of the strange monsters out of the sky as he burst through the doorway. He paused for a brief moment as it burst into energy, part of it condensing into  _another_  egg, and resisted the urge to draw it in.

"Enough fucking eggs already… Gwen, you alright?!" The redhead pushed her shield away, sending the creatures flying long enough for her to turn her attention away.

"What took you?! And what is  _that_?!”

"Long story. Gwen, Ilex. Ilex, Gwen." He was glad he’d gone for a complete absorption when one of the creature’s syringes broke apart on his arm. Destroying the assailant with a mace-shift, he gestured toward the chaos and looked at the dinosaur. "Okay, what the fuck is going on!?"

"Hi Gwen." Greeted Ilex, the dinosaur Digimon took another deep breath and rapid fired four small fireballs at a DemiDevimon that was too close. "Guil Shot!"

The bat monster dissipated and the Guilmon absorbed some of its data. The red monster tilted its head in thought and then ducked to avoid some Demi Darts. Its partner probably wasn’t asking the obvious, which was the fight. Maybe he was asking about how all these DemiDevimon got here in the physical world?

It _could_ sense and open digiportal nearby.

"It looks like a bunch of DemiDevimon came out of that digiport over there!" Ilex answered and pointed towards a room several paces away with a thick fog seeping out of the shattered doorway. A thought crossed its mind. "If you want boss, we can herd these small fry back through the port and toss the eggs in after them. Then you should use your digivice to close the portal to keep them or anything worse from comin’ right back over!"

"Is that what this?" He shook his head, "Whatever, better plan than I’ve got. Gwen?"

Gwen blasted a DemiDevimon out of the sky, tossing the boys a look of extreme confusion before slowly nodding.

"Right." With a murmured incantation, she pushed the bats into the center of the room, encasing them in an orb of mana and carrying them toward the computer room. Kevin followed behind, letting Ilex catch up as he dug is, digivice?, dug it out of his pocket.

"Okay Mr. Expert, how do I use this then?"

Ilex gathered up the large eggs. It pushed them through the digiport with its tail careful not to get to close. The dinosaur monster quickly stepped back from the portal and trotted over to its partner. It looked over the black and red highlighted device. How exactly did the boss expect it to know anything about digivices?

"Um, boss why do you think I’d know anything about digivic ** _—The button on the top_**   ** _must be pressed while the device is held facing a digital portal. A vocal command by the non-digimon partner is necessary: ‘Digiport Open!’ is used to open a closed portal, ‘Digiport Close!’ is used to close an open_** **portal.”**  The red dino closed its mouth and blinked in a confused manner. It had no idea where that came from.

The teens stared at the saurian beast, wide-eyed.

"Okay, we are worrying about  _that_ ,” she motioned to Ilex, “later. Kevin?”

The brunet shook himself out of his confused stupor and nodded.

"Yeah, alright." He held the piece of tech out and pressed the button as instructed, "Digiport close?" 

The bat-like Digimon yelled obscenities as they were forced back into the digital world. The digital fog drew back into the portal as it closed. Once the fabric of reality finished knitting back together, the only evidence that it had ever existed were some faint glyphs on the floor and surrounding tables and computers.

"Well that was interesting." Ilex commented as he sniffed at the glyphs.

"Yeah… ‘Interesting’… Kevin?"

Said boy was turning his digivice over in his hand, looking both curious and lost. He looked up at the sound of Gwen’s voice.

"Gwen?" She rubbed her temples with a sigh.

"I have three questions…"

"Fuck…"

"What was that?" Gwen pointed where the portal had sat, "What is he?" This time at Ilex, "and what the fuck is going on?!"

"Not a clue, not a clue, no fucking idea."

"I thought we talked about this," Ilex replied tilting his head. He pointed a long white claw at the space where the portal had been. "That was a digiport, a portal to the Digital World. They’re not that common but they do happen every now and then."

The red saurian pointed to himself this time. “I am the mighty warrior Ilex the Guilmon and I’m the Digimon partner to the Chosen Kevin. We were introduced earlier during the fight, were we not?”

For the last question, he stood at his full height and generally gestured around. “The fuck that when on was a flock of Demidevimon came through the open digiport and started trouble. They do that; Demidevimon aren’t the nicest Digimon around even if they are weaklings. Did that cover everything?” 

"Almost." Gwen stated, "First, what is a ‘Digimon’? Second, ‘Digital World’? And third, what is a ‘Chosen’?"

Kevin, meanwhile, had just sunk into the nearest chair with a sigh.

"This is gonna be another one of those things isn’t it? Where everything fucking changes just when I’m getting settled."

Seeing his partner upset, Ilex followed Kevin and sat on the floor next to him with his head on his partner’s lap.

"A Digimon is a digital monster, a native inhabitant of the Digital World." The Guilmon answered. He paused for moment to find the best words to describe his home dimension(?), world. "The Digital World is… a parallel reality to this one made of data, spawned by the development of advanced technology and the dreams and wishes of children."

The red dinosaur monster nuzzled his partner affectionately. “And a Chosen is a special non-Digimon chosen by the Gods and Protectors of the digital world to save it from great evil with the help of a Digimon partner. A Chosen’s wishes, willpower, and drives can give their partner the power to overcome their natural limitations to become Champion warriors.”  

Merrowww……..

Electronics went haywire in the breakroom of the Plumber’s headquarters. Lights flickered as a dark metallic digiegg bio-emerged and a badge transformed.

Merrowww……….

The teenagers stared at each other for a moment, Kevin mindlessly scritching and patting Ilex’s head. Finally, they broke their confused gaze to look down at the dino.

"I think you may have the wrong teen, kid."

"This sounds like something that would happen to  _Ben_.”

Ilex gave a huff of smoke at that. “I don’t know who this Ben is but I do know who my partner is. Boss, you wouldn’t have gotten a digivice and you definitely wouldn’t have been able to close that digiport if you weren’t a Chosen.”

The red monster’s stomach grumbled and he added, “Hey, why don’t we celebrate our first battle together with a nice big lunch!”

Merrowww………

The large egg cracked open under the assault of the excited little Digimon inside. As soon as the light met its red photoreceptors, the infant machine type began bouncing. Sparks shot from its tail chord when it spotted its rather tall partner.

It picked up the silver and black digivice next to it and bounced over.

Merrowww………..

With a nod, Kevin hauled himself to his feet.

"I still say this is fucking weird." Brushing off his pants, he turned to Gwen, "You coming?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod of her own, "something is going on and I want in."


	3. Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An informative meeting and two new Chosen appear.

Rook’s ear twitched at the sound of metal hitting metal, and looked down to see a small mechanical creature staring up at him.

"Hello little one," he knelt down cautiously, prepared for any surprises, "what are you?"

Merrowww……

Ilex greatly enjoyed the food and ate till his belly was full. He paid no attention to those watching him gorge. A thought crossed his mind when he finished his meal.

"Hey boss, I was thinking. We should probably find the other Chosen and their partners."

Merrowww……….

The little machine Digimon pushed the digivice towards its partner. Then it bounced back expectantly. On the screen was the message:  _PLEASE FEED THE DIGIMON._

Merrowww……..

"Sure," Kevin licked the dressing from his third sub off his fingers, all that surging energy had made him hungry too, "why not." At this point he was just going with it. Mostly because he was still trying to process the idea that apparently there was some power that had decided he was World Savior material. He wasn’t sure whether to be flattered, or scared that someone like that had power.

Gwen reached over and grabbed his digivice.

"You think this thing has a setting for that?"

Merrowww…….

Rook picked up the device, still eyeing the creature.

"Please feed the- So, you are a Digimon, hm?" He stood. The little thing didn’t seem dangerous, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. Planning to alert Magister Tennyson to their apparent guest, he blinked when he looked around and couldn’t find his badge.

Merrowww………

Ilex tapped his tip of snout. “Maybe, but— ** _The arrow buttons can be used to change the display of the digivice screen. First display shows health and stats of the Digimon partner. Second display shows the digivolution meter. Third display is the map showing the locations of nearby digital portals and Digimon. Forth display is the digital monster encyclopedia contains basic information on every species encountered by the device_**.” The red dinosaur blinked and then exhaled smoke from annoyance. “When I find out who keeps doing that I’m going to pyro sphere them in the face.”

The Guilmon glanced over at the humanoids and added, “Before you ask, I have no idea where that came from. For all I know a Sovereign might have just used me like a microphone.”

Merrowww……..

The hatchling greatly enjoyed it tentacly treat that it got from the human in the red shirt. It ate as neatly as it could while bouncing in place. Once finished with its meal it rocked back and forth with its tail chord sparking brightly.

Mid-bounce a tingling sensation filled its tiny body. When it landed, it had transformed into a fluffy tailed furball wearing a metal cap with two sharp pointed ‘horns’.

"Wow!" The Kapurimon stopped bouncing and turned towards the two humanoids. "Thank you for the food, sirs, it was really good."  

Merrowww………

Kevin nodded, taking his digivice back from Gwen.

"Alright, not important right now, not important, radar, okay." The trio looked down at the device and it’s prominently doing of nothing. "Looks like we’re alone."

"Figures." Leaning back in his seat, the hybrid turned the item around in his hand, examining it.

"The Plumbers have radar covering the planet; if I can hook it up to that we’re golden."

Merrowww……..

"You are welcome."

"It’s nice to have you." Max turned to the Revonnahgander, "Rook, grab him and come with me, we need to have a talk."

Confused, the alien gently picked up the small creature and followed his commanding officer down a back hall.

Merrowww…….

After making sure that Zed was taken care of, the trio headed towards the nearest Plumbers Headquarters in Bellwood. Ilex spent most of the ride with his head out the window just enjoying the breeze and imagining that he was flying. He was the slightest bit jealous of Gwen for taking the seat next to his partner but didn’t say anything about it.

Merrowww………..

The Kapurimon whistled to himself as his partner carried him down a lonely hall and into an empty room. The Digimon got a little worried when the human in red locked the door.

Merrowww……

"Get your head back in the car before it gets ripped off." Kevin adjusted the mirrors to keep a better eye on his partner, pointedly ignoring Gwen’s glaring. Okay, so he’d gotten Richie to watch Zed using the "Gwen’s mom’s a bitch" excuse, but damnit it was true and convenient. Besides, it wasn’t like he could have brought up Ilex, the man had nearly had a heart attack being introduced to  _Zed_.

Merrowww………

"Magister Tennyson?" Rook was mildly concerned when Max locked the door behind them and ignored Max’s gesturing him to sit. "What did you want to discuss?" The elderly human put a hand on his shoulder.

"Congratulations Rook, you’re now a Chosen Child." The Revonnahgander blinked.

"A Chosen Child?"

Merrowww…….

When they arrived, Ilex was still grumbling about not being allowed to have his head out of the vehicle. A few paces into the hardware store the Guilmon froze and started to growl. He scratched at the floor sensing a Digimon nearby.

………

"That’s right." The metal capped furball chirped. "You were chosen by the Sovereigns of the digital world to defeat a great evil and I was picked to be your partner Digimon."

"I hope that I’ll be able to serve you well." He added. The fur on his tail bristled when he detected the presence of another Digimon nearby. "I don’t want to alarm anyone but there might be trouble nearby."

……..

Kevin grumbled, kneeling to absorb the tiling.

"Great…"

Gwen looked around, trying to hear over the growling.

"There aren’t any alarms going off…"

………

Rook tensed when his new, partner?, did, moving towards the door. He was stopped by Max.

"Stay here. I’ll check it out. If we need you I’ll call."

…………..

At the first hint of movement, the dinosaur lunged toward something yet unseen that smelled like Digimon. A strong, unnaturally textured hand grabbed his tail and yanked him back hard before he could eviscerate the potential enemy. Ilex snapped angrily at his partner, but he relented after getting a look from the tall humanoid. 

The Guilmon sniffed at what he could now see was a human and stopped snarling when he caught a faint whiff of digivice and digiegg on him. 

"Hi, are you an ally?"

……..

"Are you sure we shouldn’t go back him up?" The in-training level Digimon asked. "If it’s a strong Digimon that old man could be in real trouble!"

……….

The brunet lunged for his partner as soon as he recognized the colorful shirt, giving him a stern look as he dragged him backwards by the tail.

"Birds of a feather." He rolled his eyes; Gwen was still annoyed with him. Big shock. Kevin dropped the tail when his partner stopped growling.

"Hi, are you an ally?" Max looked the Digimon up and down, before turning to give Kevin a quick once-over.

"I hope so."

"He’s family. Ilex, Max. Max, Ilex." Nodding at the red dinosaur, Max paled slightly when he realized that passersby could see them through the windows of the shop.

"We’ll talk about this inside. Conference room twelve,  _keep out of sight_.”

Merrowww…….

"Magister Tennyson knows what he is doing. Now," Rook finally sat, placing the small Digimon on the table in front of him, "I would like to know more about this ‘great evil’…"

……

For a large reptilian beast, Ilex stalked quietly behind the old man making sure to keep between him and his partner. Max’s scent carried a hint worry and the elder’s wish for secrecy made the Guilmon feel uneasy.

…….

The metal capped Digimon closed his eyes and took a deep breath to recall things told to him while still in the egg. He reopened them and began, “A virus is spreading in the Digital World and has already driven one of the Gods of the Digital World mad and infected the sector he protected. The goal of this virus is to wipe out all sentient non-digital life in the multiverse…”

The little Digimon stopped speaking at the sound of the door opening.

Kevin snorted as the stepped inside and saw Rook and the metallic fuzzball with him.

"You too, huh?" Rook nodded.

"Hello Kevin, Gwen."

"Hey Rook."

Max motioned for the other teens to sit, and they did. He looked them all over and took a deep breath, turning once more to Kevin.

"How many people have seen Ilex?" Kevin cringed, just a bit. That wasn’t the type of question someone asked when people were supposed to see your fire-breathing dinosaur.

"Well, we had some trouble…"

Merrowww……

The Plumber immediately backed away from her computer terminal as a wormhole lined with strange glyphs pushed itself through the monitor. A human(?) wearing a strange white hooded cloak walked out. Before she could stay anything, he took out a Plumber’s badge for her to check his identity. A white creature with purple and red markings peeked cutely at her from inside the hood.

He thanked her for checking him in and apologized for his sudden appearance. He readjusted the straps on his bag before going to find Magister Tennyson.

Merrowww…….

"Is there a problem with folks seeing me?" Ilex asked after his partner finished recalling the tale of their battle against the Demidevimon. The old human was still giving off a suspicious vibe to the dinosaur Digimon.

"Or is this about people seeing Digimon in general?" The other Digimon asked from his spot on the table. "Are we a secret in this world? If so, then it’s going to be really hard keeping it soon."

Both Digimon blinked at the arrival of something into this reality but since it didn’t feel like another Digimon they decided not to say anything.

Max sighed, head in his hands.

"Digimon are  _supposed_  to be a secret. The information is classified. Magisters are the lowest on the totem pole of people who can know about Digimon and the Digital World.” The teens gave each other a ‘damn’ look. “Anyone under Magister rank who isn’t a Chosen is on a strictly need-to-know basis.” They looked at him. “Partners, close family, and people who get directly involved. And even then as little information as is possible.”

"So," Gwen leaned back in her chair and looked at the boys, "who’s telling Ben?"

Merrowww…….

"I feel ‘em Gennai but I can’t find ‘em." Calumon told his partner while hiding in his robes. The man(?) chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"I think we should ask for a little help." Gennai replied to the Catalyst of Digivolution. He looked around and pulled over the first person who didn’t look busy.

"Hi there," The being greeted the short teen in the green and white hoodie. "I’m looking for Magister Tennyson and I think he might be held up in a meeting somewhere. Can you help me find the conference rooms?"

Merrowww……..

The Digimon where distracted from the discussion by the approach of some digital beings. Feeling that everyone should be aware of the company that was going to arrive, the in-training Digimon spoke up.

"We have company coming," Using its sonar the metal-capped furball verified their location. "About seven paces away, digital but not exactly Digimon and something that sounds like a human."  

Merrowww…..

"Umm," Ben blinked at the man, "sure, just let me give him a call and find out where exactly he is."

Merrowww…..

Kevin turned to Rook.

"You think this is what it feels like to be Ben?"

"I have seen his life, I do not want it."

"Don’t think we have a choice anymore."

"You don’t. We don’t either for that matter, we’re preprogramed to already be bonded to you guys." Ilex added. "But if helps when we save the day your story will be immortalized in Digimon legends for several millennia."

"Yup," agreed Rook’s Digimon partner. "Every baby Digimon in the nurseries and schools will hear of you."

Merrowww…….

"Ohh! Did ya hear that!" Calumon followed a very high-pitched sound that the humanoids couldn’t detect.

"Calumon! You know you’re supposed to stay hidden from humans!" The data human called after his partner. His hood flew off as he ran after the flying white being and his brown ponytail bounced wildly behind his head. Gennai was more focused on the pseudo-Digimon than the teen following after him.

The bouncy white creature looked at him with big happy green eyes. He gestured at the door in front of him. “I found them! There are Digimon in there!”

The humanoid just sighed and knocked on the door. “Maxwell, it’s me Gennai.” 

"I shouldn’t be surprised.." he opened the door, "Gennai. The boys are right over here." Max gestured toward Rook, who gave a nod of acknowledgement, and Kevin, who, along with Gwen, gave Ben a small wave.

"Sir."

"Hey." 

"Greetings Maxwell, children," Gennai said as he and his company entered the room. He took an empty seat and sat his bag on the table. Calumon landed on the table and retracted his ears."I wish the reasons for my visit weren’t so dire."

The white pseudo-Digimon waddled up to the true Digimon. “Hiya! I’m Calumon nice to meet you Chosen Digimon!” He turned to the partners of the Digimon. “Nice to meet you guys too!”

"You’re the Catalysis of Digivolution," The metal-capped furball said sounding star struck. "It’s an honor to meet you sir."

"Yup," Calumon replied cutely. "Before we go I can get ya to Rookie level if you want."

"Yes…I-i mean I would enjoy that, sir. Thank you."

"Calumon, perhaps we can chit-chat latter." The brown haired humanoid took out a large blue and white egg from his bag and a blue and pink degivice and sat them both on the table. "We have important business to discuss. Maxwell, these are for a Cooper Daniels."

The digital being pushed the items toward the Magister. “For those of you who don’t know, I’m Gennai. I work… well worked for the Sovereign Digimon Azulongmon. Recently a great evil has risen up in the Digital World and its effects shall soon begin to spill over into this reality. To combat this threat the five Sovereigns of the Digiworld have each chosen a champion and a Digimon to fight it.

"Kevin Levin was chosen by the Sovereign of Instinct, Zhaoqiaomon the Vermillion Bird of the South. Rook Blonko was chosen by the Sovereign of Justice, Baihumon the White Tiger of the West. I’m not sure if she received her partner yet, but Looma of the Red Wind was chosen by the Sovereign of Wisdom, Ebonwumon the Black Tortoise of the North." Gennai gave a small bow to the Chosen. "I hope you can help us and save both our worlds."

When Cooper’s name came up, Kevin went for his phone. He had the boy on speed dial. Not quite patiently he listened to it ring, nodding along with, though only half listening to, what the man said. Big evil, champions chosen, gotta fight, yeah yeah. Right up until he heard ‘Looma’.

The phrase “white as a sheet” comes to mind.

"We would be honored. We will do what we can." Rook replied, nodding back at Gennai. Meanwhile, Cooper had finally picked up the phone, almost breaking Kevin out of his tense state.

"Coop, headquarters, conference room 12, now." Click. "Fuck." And he slumped, head in his arms on the table.

Rook tried to stay professional, after all they had just been given a major mission and a serious destiny, but couldn’t help a small smirk at the other’s well-deserved distress. Gwen wasn’t even trying, arms crossed with a ‘sucks to be you’ smirk, and Ben had the widest shit-eating grin that had been seen in that building since Kevin’s father had died.

"Looks like karma just caught up to you." Kevin didn’t even bother flipping him off.

"Rook," he reached out and put a hand on the Revonnahgander’s arm, "Rook, be a pal and make sure whatever’s left gets back to my mom." Rook patted him back.

"Since it is your dying wish.."

"Thanks."

Ilex frowned at the organics’ exchange. Was his partner in trouble with this Chosen? “Did something happen between you and this Looma person, boss?”

"If Cooper is on his way, then I can give you all the details on the enemy when he gets here." The digital human commented. He rummaged through his bag for some supplies and took out three heads of brown lettuce of varying shades, a dozen green apples, some chalk, and a compass. "We might as well have some lunch and some visual accompaniment to my words. Besides, Cooper’s partner will need something to eat when it hatches."

"Aye aye sir!" Calumon replied as he gathered up the food items and Gennai began drawing digital runes on the table right in front of himself. Rook’s partner helped to the best of its ability to move the digital vegetables and fruit over to the Guilmon to cook. The firebreathing dinosaur held the items in his claws and roasted them. The white being grabbed some napkins to sit the food on and set them around the table. The room smelled like roasted meat after a few moments when the lettuce and apples had finished cooking.

A few leaves and half an apple were set out for the unhatched egg. Calumon enthusiastically took the other half of the apple and another whole apple for himself. The Kapurimon neatly nibbled on a few leaves stripped of for him and savored the meaty taste of the vegetable. Ilex shoved one of the lettuce heads into his mouth and swallowed it whole. 

Someone knocked on the door.

Merrowww…….

The Hawkmon sat on her partner’s lap as the red-skinned humanoid piloted her personal ship. The red and white bird Digimon was struck by the beauty of space as they headed for Earth.

Merrowww…….

"You could say that…"

"She’s his ex-fiance," Gwen piped up, "he got engaged to her, skipped out on the wedding, and the only reason she didn’t bring him back in a full-body cast is he tricked her and Ben into getting engaged."

"Asshole."

"Shut up, Tennyson."

"Well you are."

The Tennyson teens each grabbed apples while their grandfather and Rook dug into the food. Kevin refused anything, between the news of who he’d be working with and having produce the color of decay around an egg, he’d lost his appetite. They all looked up at the knock.

"Kev?"

"Come on in, Cooper." Blinking, the blond stepped in at Max’s prompting and look confused at the sight in front of him.

"What’s going on?"

"Sit down, Coop." Kevin patted a seat next to him and Rook nodded.

"It is a long story."

The moment the tall blond walked in the big blue egg began hatching. The red dinosaur decided to help out the being by cracking the shell of the egg lightly in his strong jaws. The white creature had a much easier time getting out of the egg. The amphipod-like Digimon blinked its large red eyes at him gratefully before looking around. As soon as it spotted its partner, the small white Digimon grabbed the blue and pink digivice and flew straight for Cooper. It circled excitedly around his head blowing rainbow-tinted bubbles as he took an empty seat.

"Greetings Cooper Daniels, you have been chosen by the Digimon Sovereign of Peace, Azulongmon the Azure Dragon of the East to help save both this reality and the Digital World from a great threat. The Pichimon blowing Happy Baby Bubbles at you is your Digimon partner." The digital human said. "I am Gennai, Azulongmon’s proxy and friend come to alert you and the other Chosen of the present danger." 

The Pichimon placed the digivice on the table in front of its partner. It floated over to grab the cooked leaves and fruit and dragged it over. The tiny white Digimon took a leaf to nibble on and landed in its partner’s lap, looking quite comfortable all snuggled up against the teen’s soft belly.

"Hiya! I’m Calumon." The personification of digivolution introduced himself. He felt his Zero Unit glowing and the Pichimon became a Bukamon. The much larger brown seahorse Digimon gave a smile to the pseudo-Digimon and then gave one to her partner before continuing with her meal.

"Oh! If you’re hungry we have some roasted meat apples and beef lettuce if you want to try some." The white being pointed to the cooked apples and brown lettuce.

Gennai nodded to himself now that everyone was settled. He waved a softly glowing hand over the ruins drawn onto the table. A projection sprang up from the surface of the table showing bizarre and beautiful landscapes (and seascapes) populated with all sorts of Digimon living together. “The current threat that has emerged is a very powerful virus that appeared to have gained sentence. Truth be told this virus had been fought many times the past, usually as a weapon used by some very unpleasant forces and about twice it managed to form a body for itself and cause havoc that way.”

The projection now showed a dark miasma creeping across some of the lands and surrounding unsuspecting Digimon and those who couldn’t escape. The mist forced itself into the bodies of the unfortunate Digimon, corrupting them and controlling them. The infected monsters began attacking the non-infected ones, who soon fell ill after following their natural instinct and absorbing the data of their defeated foes or lost and were assimilated into the horde. “Now it’s come back and working on a much larger scale, capturing and infecting Digimon directly or using the instincts of Digimon to feed off their defeated opponents against them and corrupting their data that way. Azulongmon’s region was completely taken over after the old dragon was tricked by the virus and infected himself. I and my people evacuated as many Digimon as we could into some of the other digital realms.

"We were lucky that we were able to get to the eggs and newborns in the Primary Village in time." Gennai sighed sounding much, much older than he looked. He used a hand to clear the chalk markings off the table causing the hologram to dissipate. "In trying to communicate with captured infected we gathered that the virus wishes to assimilate every being it can and destroy whoever it can’t. Digital and energy beings are much easier to assimilate but be warned, prolonged contact with the concentrated miasma  _will_  infect a matter being.”

"Your Digimon partners are all reborn Digimon that had been infected giving them a measure of immunity. Their bond with you should boost this immunity." He took a breath. "Now does anyone have any questions?"

……..

Following her evolution, and his friend’s obvious discomfort with it, Cooper spent the explanation with an arm between Bukamon and Kevin. When it was over he leaned toward the hybrid.

"You could’ve warned me."

"If I have to go in blind, so do you." Kevin turned toward Gennai, "What exactly do you mean by ‘matter being’?"

"I do not think a full armor would help, Kevin."

"I’m just wondering."

"You mentioned five Sovereign," Gwen raised her hand slightly, "but only four Chosen?" Ben chimed in.

"And how are we supposed to stop this thing?"

"There are five chosen, I just don’t know who the fifth one is." Gennai apologized, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Calumon made his way back to his partner. "The leader of the Sovereigns and the Sovereign of Balance, Fanglongmon the Yellow Dragon of the Center is well known for keeping information to himself and working in secret. In fact, it’s been generations since anyone has seen him in person after the great battle against the Seven Great Demon Lords.

"As for how to stop the virus, I honestly have no clue." The digital human frowned. "What we do know is that infected do return to normal after having their bodies destroyed, but we are still working on a less violent way to save our controlled comrades. Calumon?"

The white being put on a serious face as it thought. “Well, when the D-Reaper escaped…” All the digital beings in the room shuddered at the name. “the humans who created it were able to make a program that devolved it back to its original state as a simple computer program where the Sovereigns were able to seal it away again. If that helps.”   

"So, our best bet is to try to keep it from spreading until someone can make another program?" Cooper slumped back in his seat, " _That_ sounds promising.” 

"Ah, it’s never easy." Gennai laughed. He got up and started repacking his things. "But it could be worse; At least the Sovereigns aren’t sealed up again, the Digital World isn’t about the crash into a physical plane, and none of the Gods have declared war on your world."

"Well, Zhaoqiaomon and Yggdrasill have mellowed out quite a bit and aren’t nearly as genocidal as they used to be, though they’re still not very nice. And I’m one of the DigiGods, too! Remember, and I like all my matter friends!" Calumon said to his partner as he flew up to his shoulder. "But don’t give up friends! I know you can do it! And don’t worry about digivolving, if you need me I’ll help out."

The digital human laughed again, “Calumon, you’re friends with everything so long as they don’t try to hurt you.” He put his backpack back on. “Two things before we go: one you can store your partner inside your digivice using the button above the arrow buttons. That should help a little in the secrecy department. Second, Calumon would you help out the In Trainings?”

"Right!" Calumon replied. "Lady and gentlemonster, if you will?"

The Kapurimon bounced off the table to the floor near the two. The Bukamon followed and giggled to herself. Calumon nodded to himself. Remembering how uncomfortable the Pichimon’s earlier digivolution made the Guilmon’s partner, the white being decided to give him a moment to brace himself. After the moment passed his Zero Unit began to glow. “Digivolve!”

Egg shaped cocoons covered the two youngest Digimon. The cocoons dissipated after a few seconds revealing that the Bukamon had become a Crabmon and the Kapurimon transformed into a yellow Hagurumon. The bluish crab Digimon tested her new claws before scuttling back over to Cooper. The gear Digimon bowed in thanks to the pseudo-Digimon before floating back over to his own partner.

"See you later people," Gennai called back as he exited the room. "Oh, and you might want to close that digiport that just opened in Undertown!"


	4. Rumble Down Under

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The five Chosen, plus allies Gwen and Ben, face the enemy for the first time.

"Hey partner, we have trouble." The Fanbeemon calmly stated before her partner’s yellow and purple digivice went off. She could sense not only a Digimon but also an open digiport nearby.  From the screams in the distance, she could tell that it was probably a big one. "I’ll fly up and see where it is."

Her translucent wings quickly carried her high up into the air. Once above the stalls she could see a digital mist several blocks away. Something reared up in the fog and the insectiod Digimon could see a single large black horn and part of a black frill.

"Monochromon." She mumbled to herself before diving to report her findings.

Merrow………

The red and gold digivice of the Hawkmon’s partner went off not long after they landed. The birdlike Digimon closed her blue eyes and concentrated. She could feel Digimon both nearby and yet also… far away. From below? Well the digital world has many layers she remembered, so why not this one too?

"There are Digimon below us, my lady." She reported to her partner. "Do you wish to engage them?"

Merrowww……

Cooper placed a hand on his older friend’s arm as the Digimon transformed, removing it only when Crabmon approached. He patted her carapace as Rook gave Solarmon a nod of approval and recognition. It was a nice moment of bonding until Gennai mentioned the portal, leaving the latest Chosen and Ben surprised and mildly confused.

Seeing the looks on the others’ faces, Kevin and Gwen stood with sighs. While the redhead herded her cousin out the door, Kevin motioned for his little team to follow.

"I’ll show you guys how it’s done."

Merrowww……..

Helen fidgeted down on the ground, waiting for FanBeemon’s return. Manny’s attempts to swat the large insect had led to her leaving him home, but now she kind of missed the familiar presence. There was too much going on at once.

Merrowww………..

It didn’t even take a minute for Looma to consider the matter. Her day had been full; from the egg being brought to her and her father, to the hatching and bonding, to the evolution, to talk of evil to be fought and tracking the other digivices to Earth, to flying out here…

"Yes, I do." She could use a good fight.    

Merrowww…….

"Four blocks north. There’s an open digiport. One Monochromon has bio-emerged and more are sure to follow." The Fanbeemon reported as soon as she was within hearing range of her partner. "Meet me there."

The insectiod Digimon took the most direct route, flying over buildings and stalls to reach their destination. Once at the sight of the carnage she waited for a good opportunity to strike.  Her antennae stood up when she noticed the darker than normal coloration of the ceratopsian Digimon. Its glowing eyes spotted her and its breath came out in large puffs of black vapor.

**_"Horn Strike!"_**  The rookie dodged the dinosaur’s charge by quickly flying up. She flew back down when it passed under her and crashed face first into a truck with an orange cab.

"Gear Stinger!" The yellow bug shot serrated stingers into some of the less armored bits of her opponent. She did not see the other Monochromon that emerged from the fog until its tail slammed her into a wall.

……………….

"Are we there yet?" Ilex asked from inside his partner’s digivice for the fifteenth time since the Rook started the truck. He was impatient and raring for a good messy fight.

"Patience is a virtue, comrade." Rook’s Solarmon replied from within his own partner’s digivice. All the Digimon were stored for the ride but Ilex was the only that seemed to be upset by it. The Crabmon just hummed a little tune to herself and didn’t join the conversation. She was content with her position and was thinking of all the possible Digimon that could have come through the digiport.

It was pretty easy to find the digiport once in Undertown. It was even easier to find the Digimon since a large armored dinosaur crashed horn first into the vehicle.

Merrowww……

"My lady, I think we might be in for a treat." The Hawkmon reported to her partner. The Tetramand made large leaps following the red bird as she flew. "I see at least three Monochromon rampaging two blocks over. Those Digimon are Champion level, big, with armored skin, and a strong horn." 

Merrowww……..

Turning the final corner before the fight, Helen cringed as she saw her partner slammed into a wall. As soon as the black dinosaur moved its tail she darted in, scooping up the FanBeemon and darting for where she could see her friends.

"You guys, too?"

The team had bailed as soon as they’d seen the Monochromon heading for the truck. Immediately the Chosen had released their partners, the whole lot preparing for a fight.

"Yeah. Are you two okay?"

Merrowww…..

Looma couldn’t suppress a smile at the description. Large, strong, and armored? She may as well have been home.

Merrowww…………

Flybeemon’s blue antennae twitched and she blinked big green eyes slowly. Her wings buzzed and she climbed out of her partner’s arms. She swayed dizzily in the air for a few seconds before she fully recovered.

"Thanks, I’m good now." She told her partner. The bee/wasp Digimon looked over to the other Chosen and their Digimon. "So the cavalry has arrived."

Spotting a third and then a forth infected Monochromon emerge from the digital fog, everyone groaned. Then the one that had crashed into the truck dislodged itself and snorted. “It would be a good move to seal that digiport as soon as possible.” Solarmon observed. “So who wants to star—”

Ilex dashed forward, irrupting the machine type Digimon. “Rock ‘n Roll Crusher!” The red dinosaur became a wheel of flaming claws, knocking the ceratopsian dinosaur into the wall. Pushing off its hard carapace, Ilex launched himself into the air. “Pyro Sphere!”

The black dinosaur screamed in pain when the fireball collided with its eye. Suddenly the half-blind Monochromon reared. The Crabmon was squeezing its relatively softer throat with her bladed claw. “Scissors Execution.”

"Well then." The Solarmon blinked. "Shiny Tackle!" The orange and yellow gear monster glowed brightly and launched itself at the rearing Digimon causing it to fall over.

Two of the Monochromon charged the Guilmon while the other saurian charged the non-Digimon.  ** _"Horn Strike!!!"_**

"88 Call." The Fanbeemon’s antennae glowed bright red as she summoned a swarm of insects to attack the ones charging the red dinosaur. The thick mat of bugs slowed the horned reptiles’ movement as they got into the chinks between their armored plates and weighed down their legs. The black dinosaurs growled and breathed in deeply. Ilex knowing what was coming next exhaled a large plume of smoke that hid him from view. 

**_"Volcanic Strike!!"_**  Deep red fireballs hit the mat and exploded, incinerating most of the insects on and under them. When the smoke cleared, Ilex was nowhere in sight. One of the black dinosaurs walked forward, smirking at the wasp/bee Digimon. It took another deep breath and got a surprise of Ilex launching up from the ground underneath it and viciously clawing at its soft underside.

"Beak Pecker!" A Hawkmon dove in from nowhere and pecked at the other Monochromon’s back getting its attention. She climbed to gain altitude as quickly as she could. "Now, m’ lady!"

…………………………

As Ben slammed down the Omnitrix’s dial, becoming Rath and joining the fray, Gwen put up a shield and fired kept the creatures at bay with repeated energy blasts. Meanwhile, Kevin absorbed the metal of what was left of Rook’s truck, gathering the small team together. He pointed at the digital fog.

"Okay, we go in, I show you what to do, and after that we just throw Helen at these things."

"Kevin!"

"Okay."

"Cooper!"

"Sorry Helen, but it makes sense." As the raptor-like hybrid glared at her mutant teammate, Rook sighed.

"Let us get started." The other nodded and got to the edge of the deep fog before being reached by the ground shaking sound of a digital beast being grabbed by the tail and slammed against a wall. They turned to look and Kevin cringed.

"Somebody go grab Looma?" The younger members of the team hesitated, and so Rook darted into the battlefield.

…………….

"Iron Shell!" "Shiny Tackle!" The Crabmon and Solarmon finished off the overturned Monochromon. Its data dispersed with neither of them will to absorb the tainted code and its purified egg landed softly on the ground. 

"Wild Sky Upper!" With claws aflame, Ilex continued his onslaught. He retreated back into his hole when the bigger dinosaur slammed its body to the ground. Before the Monochromon could incinerate him, orange and white fists flew into its face and distracted it. The Guilmon took a deep breath and concentrated, building up power inside.

"Pyro Sphere!!" The therapod Digimon launched a fireball three times larger than normal into the wounds he had made earlier. The Monochromon screamed as its body disintegrated and its egg landed at the feet of the tiger-like creature. The free data was very tempting to the virus attribute Digimon causing him to drool. He slapped himself to get the thought out of his head; Ilex was certain that indiscriminately loading the data of infected Digimon had gotten him trouble in his past life.

The Fanbeemon hovered in the air not too far from the red haired girl to back her up by shooting serrated stingers at the remaining Monochromon that wasn’t in a wrestling match with the Hawkmon’s partner. The insect was much better at long distance battle and did not want to be slammed again.

The other dinosaur, half blind from the beating and with its main weapon broken, bit down on the princess’s skirt and tossed her. It sucked in a huge breath, ready to burn the red humanoid, and the blue one checking on her, to ash. “Hawk Claw!” “Iron Shell!” The bird and crab Digimon forced its jaw closed before the fireballs left its throat causing the explosive attack to back fire. The dinosaur swayed and coughed violently before a half dozen flaming gears slammed into it and it exploded into a cloud of data.

……………….

Inside the fog, the portal began leaking a small amount of black vapor. Nothing was trying to come out of it when the Chosen found it but noises could be heard coming from the other side. 

Looma nodded when Rook flashed his digivice and motioned her over to the group, cracking the dinosaur’s head against the ground and effortlessly making her way across the battlefield. The rest of the group cringed.

"So, Kev, should we hold off on the suicide comments or-?"

"Yeah. Looma." He cautiously nodded at her as she approached. She nodded back.

"Kevin." With a deep breath, Kevin plunged into the fog, the rest of the group carefully following behind; armed, in the case of Cooper and Rook. They stood well back from the portal when they found it, suspicious of the dark haze. Rook turned to their Osmosian.

"Kevin?" He nodded, stepping toward the source of the problem.

"Okay, watch and learn." He slowly and very obviously, for the sake of his viewers, pressed the top button on his digivice and held it toward the portal. "Digiport close."

The digiport glowed and both the fog and black haze back were sucked back into it. The portal sealed up leaving only a few digital runes as the only evidence that it had been there. A deep cry from the battlefield marked the end of the last Monochromon.

……….

"Don’t you make a cute Mommy." The Crabmon giggled after Ilex placed the recovered digieggs in a soft dirt nest. The therapod Digimon settled down the grey eggs and waited for his partner.

"Thanks." The Guilmon replied. "I wonder if we’re keeping these or finding a safe digiport to send them through?"

The Fanbeemon settled down on the ground next to the red haired girl. She was too tired from the fight to fly so she just followed on foot. She didn’t have far to crawl as Helen skidded to a stop and picked her the oversized bee/wasp.

The Solarmon watched the tiger-like humaniod transform back into a human."Thank you for the assistance comrade." The machine Digimon said as it floated closer to its reptilian and crustacean comrades. The small teenager followed to wait for the others.

“No problem, it was pretty fun.”

Ilex got up from his nest when his partner approached. Kevin picked up one of the large eggs and gave the red dino’s head a good scratch for a job well done. “I guess we can’t put these back through the same portal can we?”

“We could, but they’d get infected and hatch into evil Digimon.” The Crabmon chimed in, not quite grasping the concept of rhetorical question. She attempted to balance one of the grey eggs between the spikes on her carapace.

“Well we can’t keep them, so we’ll have to find some other digiport.” Cooper took the egg from partner when it started tipping over. The Hawkmon perched on the Tetramand’s shoulder gave a nod of approval to that.

The Solarmon flashed as he got an idea. “There’s a safe digiport in the Plumber’s building!”Everyone turned to the machine type monster who floated backwards a bit in surprise. “Mmm, well, sirs Gennai and Calumon bioemerged inside the building,” Ilex nodded in confirmation at that. “and it seems unlikely that the part of the Digiworld they emerged from would be compromised.”

“A sound conclusion.” Rook agreed. The feline Plumber glanced back at his wreaked ride and sighed. “I shall call for a towing service.”

“No need, I can fix that easy.” Cooper placed a hand on the Revonnahgander’s shoulder before going over to the remains of the ProtoTRUK. Metal pieces floated around the technopath, uncrumpling and flying into their proper places.  The sight got many “ooh!”s and “ahh!”s from the Digimon partners.

Since they were waiting and she really had no clue who these people were aside from being Chosen, the Fanbeemon ventured to ask. “We fought well together, but I feel that introductions may be necessary.”

“Yes, that was an excellent battle, if a little too brief for my tastes.” The Tetramand replied as she shouldered her hammer. There were a few faces present that she’d never met before; though they probably knew of her by way of her exfiancés, it was important to know teammates she was going to fight alongside. “I am Princess Looma of the House of the Red Wind,” the small Tetramand started, gesturing at herself with her lower left arm. With her upper right arm, she scratched under the jaw of her Hawkmon partner. “And this is the warrior Cir, also of the House of the Red Wind.”

 “Us next!” The Guilmon shouted energetically, standing at full height and waving one of its big striped forearms. Kevin was not exactly comfortable having his ex’s attention on him, even if she didn’t appear to be angry with him at the moment. The Osmosian was thankful that his partner wanted to do the talking. “I am the mighty warrior Ilex and this is my boss, Kevin Levin. He’s awesome. Also the small humans are Ben and Gwen who are not Chosen, but are pretty good fighters.” The red dino pointed at each Tennyson in turn for the other Digimon.

“Nice to meet you all, I’m Liz,” The Fanbeemon clicked through her mandibles. She enjoyed the name that her partner’s brother gave her; it reminded her of the sound her wings made. Her partner’s blue tail twitched and she picked up the conversation.

“Helen Wheels, though most of you know already. The blond is Cooper Daniels.” Speak of the devil, the technopath was finished repairing Rook’s vehicle and returned to the group. The tall blond got the surprise of a dog sized crustacean monster climbing up his legs and pressing herself into his soft belly. She stared at him wide eyed with a huge grin.

“Yes?”

“Can I have a name?!” The Crabmon hugged her partner tighter.

“Sure, um… could you stop squeezing me so hard, it kinda hurts?” The crab Digimon hopped to the ground and scuttled in circles. A nearby sign at a stall selling seafood caught Cooper’s eye. “How about… Brooke?”

“Iron Shell!” Everyone backed up as the Crabmon launched herself into the air with her six powerful legs. When she landed, she did a little dance while chanting her new name.

“I’ll take that as you like it.” Cooper chuckled as Brooke circled him still dancing.

“We are last then? I am Rook Blonko,” The Revonnahgander introduced himself. Then he gestured to the Solarmon hovering next to him. “and this is my Digimon partner Rook Arun, if he wishes.” The orange gear Digimon’s eyes twinkled but he didn’t say anything. “and I believe we should store our partners and return to Plumber’s Headquarters before these eggs hatch.”

Merrowww……

“This is the computer terminal that Gennai went through earlier.” The glasses wearing Piscciss Volann tapped on the monitor currently covered in digital glyphs.

“Thank you for the assistance, Magister Patelliday.” Rook frowned at the screen for a moment before stepping back behind the digi eggs. The tall Plumber held out his silver and black digivice towards the terminal. “Err… digiport open?”

The portal opened quickly, drawing in not only the digi eggs but also anyone with a digivice. The digiport then closed as quickly as it opened, leaving shock on several faces.

“Rook?”

“Kevin!”


End file.
